NextStop Blog

Legislative Alert: U.S. Congress Discussing the Future of Federal Public Transit Funding Now

The conversation on the future of transit at the federal level has heated up again. The U.S. Senate is now considering amendments to their two-year Highway Transportation Bill, including provisions for federal public transit funding. Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives met today and agreed to continue funding transit through the Highway Trust Fund.

Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the current federal transportation funding bill, is set to expire on March 31st. Congress can either pass a new transportation bill or pass a continuing resolution to keep in place the current SAFETEA-LU. While conversations in Washington, D.C. are focused on the future of transportation in America, we want you to speak up for public transit.

Let your local elected officials know that public transit funding is important to you. Encourage them to to support transit funding at the federal level on your behalf, and thank them for the work they do in supporting public transportation in St. Louis.

Senator Roy Blunt
314-727-3548

Senator Claire McCaskill
314-367-1364

Congressman William Lacy Clay
314-383-5240

Congressman Todd Akin
314-590-0029

Congressman Russ Carnahan
314-962-1523

Congressman John Shimkus
618-344-3065

Congressman Jerry Costello
618-397-8833

More people are turning to transit as a viable transportation option. Our ridership in St. Louis is up over 8 percent and growing. New technology and capital projects are scheduled for transit in St. Louis, including the new Scott Transit Plaza at the Grand MetroLink Station, new North County Transit Center, and GPS systems on all MetroBuses. In addition Metro is studying new bus stop signage, changes to the Civic Center Transit Center, and bus rapid transit options. Now is NOT the time to jeopardize stable funding for transit providers.

Congress needs to address the nation’s transportation needs with sensible, sustainable options. President Ronald Regan put into place funding for transit out of the Highway Trust Fund. This dedicated funding stream has built and maintained efficient transit systems across the nation. Workers rely on these transit systems to get to their jobs. We encourage transit riders and transit supporters to speak out and let Congress know that stable transit funding is the right choice for the St. Louis region.

Honestly, I feel that the routes should be more spread out more in the Downtown area, as it was in the years past. Currently, the Civiv Center station is too conglomerated, and is very confusing as to which bus pulls in the TC or on 14th Steet. I think better signage could be implemented if Metro wishes to keep all buses at Civiic Center TC & 14 and Spruce, but I think it would be best to bring a few routes back to the immediate Downtown
If my idea were to be looked at:

* I also think the #99 should serve Busch Stadium, Memorial Drive near the Arch and the Lumiere Link/Edward Jones Dome and could operate every 15 minutes until 7 or 8pm
As a teenager, I would like Metro to grow, but also see mistakes made, and improvements to make their service greater
Thanks for ready, look forward to a response 🙂

Studying new signs…that’s a good thing. If I can put a plug in, my hope is that they are done more ‘professionally’ and less ‘whimsically’ than the signs for the 99 and 3. If Metro doesn’t take itself seriously, neither will ridership. Don’t forget about maps, particularly for stops that have wind shelters.

I’m also hoping that signs will have some sort of time table with them – but that may require Metro to stop changing schedules every 3 months….